The Atlanta Braves recently acquired David Fletcher from the Los Angeles Angels. At first glance, it appears that he could be the utility depth we sought after non-tendering Nicky Lopez in November. Today, we pose the question, “could David Fletcher overtake Orlando Arcia as the starting shortstop?” Let’s take a look.
What Braves got in David Fletcher
David Fletcher has a career triple slash of .277/.323/.359. He makes a ton of contact with a 9.5% career strikeout rate. Fletch has just 208 Ks in 2,180 PAs. He doesn’t have home run power but he hits for average and can find a gap or two with solid doubles output.
In 2019, Fletcher played 154 games while hitting .319 with a .350 OBP and 30 doubles. The next year, (2020 Covid) he finished 17th in MVP voting. The year after that, he played 157 games and had 27 doubles. During that three-year stretch he hit .282 with 70 doubles in 360 games. He had 149 strikeouts in 360 games. That’s 149 strikeouts in 1,548 plate appearances. He is one of the best in the league at making contact.
To put his 9.5% strikeout rate into perspective, league average is 22.1%.
David Fletcher is a solid contact hitter who can get on base and hit doubles and a high average. On top of that, he’s a glove. He’s got 42 career defensive runs saved and holds a 135-game pace of 13 at second base, seven at shortstop, nine at third base, and 16 in left field.
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